章 25: Wild Mountain Salt Mine
編集者: Atlas Studios
In the boundless primitive forest, a herd of bison walked slowly forward while eating grass. From time to time, they would raise their heads and look around. They were very vigilant.
Jiang Xuan, Chi Shao and Stone Loach had been following behind the bison herd for most of the day and were hungry.
"Chi Shao Chi Shao…"
Chi Shao used a bone plow to dig out a few spherical plant tubers from under a tree. He handed the largest one to Jiang Xuan.
"Eat. These are round potatoes. They're very sweet."
This fruit looked like a sweet potato, but it was spherical and had a red outer skin.
Jiang Xuan wiped the dirt off the skin and took a bite.
He was surprised to find that the round potatoes tasted like fruit. They were crispy, sweet, and tasted very good.
Jiang Xuan's eyes lit up. "This is good. Are there any smaller ones? Dig them out and plant them!"
"I'll look."
Chi Shao rummaged around where the round potatoes grew and found five or six small round potatoes on the roots. The big ones were the size of eggs, and the small ones were the size of pigeon eggs.
In the past, the tribesmen would not dig up such a small fruit to take back. Instead, they would wait for it to grow in the fields before digging it up the next time.
But it was different now. After the Vine Tribe opened up the wasteland, they could dig all of them up and take them back, eating the big ones, and farming the small ones.
Jiang Xuan put these round potatoes into the animal skin bag he carried with him. To him, these were all treasures.
"Chief, the bison are moving to the next place to graze."
Stone Loach had been staring at the herd of bison. Even when he was eating the sweet potatoes, his gaze never left the herd. He was a very responsible and patient person.
"Keep up with them."
Jiang Xuan tightened the mouth of the beast skin bag and quickly followed.
The grass in the primitive jungle was relatively scattered. Therefore, after the bison finished eating in one place, they would head to another place to continue eating.
In addition, sometimes, the bison would be attacked by large ferocious beasts and flee in panic. If they did not follow closely, they might lose them.
Just like that, they collected edible plants along the way while following the bison herd. Unknowingly, the sky turned dark.
The herd of bison stopped walking after reaching a patch of grass.
Bison also needed to sleep.
When the weather was cold, they grazed during the day and slept at night.
When the weather was hot, they generally grazed in the morning and afternoon and slept at noon and at night.
Of course, there were always exceptions. Some bison would go foraging at night.
Fortunately, this herd of bison was not an exception. They were prepared to spend the night here.
During the night, a bison would be in charge of keeping watch. This way, the other bison would not have to worry about being attacked by ferocious beasts while sleeping.
Jiang Xuan observed the herd of bison and said, "It looks like they won't leave tonight. Let's prepare to spend the night in the trees."
There were many poisonous insects on the ground and it was easy to be attacked by ferocious beasts. It was slightly safer to spend the night on the trees.
The three of them quickly built a temporary shelter on the tree and started a fire on the ground.
Fire was important. Not only could it drive away the beasts, but the smoke could also drive away nasty bugs.
The three of them ate a little, then took turns keeping watch. They slept in the trees all night.
The next morning, just as the sky was starting to brighten, the herd of bison set off again. Jiang Xuan and the other two carefully extinguished the fire and immediately followed.
It was very boring and time-consuming following the bison. Fortunately, Jiang Xuan and the others took turns to do that.
On the second day of following the herd, Jiang Xuan finally realized that the herd had gone to a special place.
It was a barren mountain range with sparse vegetation. It looked out of place in the ancient forest.
The barren mountain was relatively steep, and there was only some very short grass and bushes. However, the bison went towards the barren mountain without hesitation.
When they were halfway up the mountain, they stopped in front of a stone wall and kept licking the stones on it.
At the foot of the barren mountain, Jiang Xuan was very excited when he saw the bison. However, he was not sure if they were licking salt.
"Let's go up and take a look!"
Jiang Xuan led Chi Shao and Stone Loach up the mountain, following the path of the bison.
The bison licked the rocks for a while. Because the vegetation was sparse and they were high above, it was easy to discover the people climbing up the mountain.
"Moo!"
One of the bison brayed. Then the others stopped licking the rocks and fled down another hill.
Jiang Xuan did not mind. He did not follow the bison herd to hunt them, but for salt. Since he had found the place where the bison replenished their salt, he did not need to follow these bison anymore.
Before long, Jiang Xuan finally climbed to the side of the mountain and arrived at the stone wall.
This stone wall was made of countless stones. It was likely formed after a landslide.
These stones were yellow overall and some were red. The lower stones had obvious licking marks on them and their surfaces were smoother.
There was some bison dung, goat dung, and some other animal feces on the ground. Clearly, the bison weren't the only ones who came to this place. Other animals came too.
Jiang Xuan pulled out a stone knife from his waist and pried off a small piece of the semi-crystal-shaped red stone that had not been licked by animals.
Then he stuck out his tongue and gently licked the stone.
A salty and bitter taste stimulated the taste buds on Jiang Xuan's tongue.
"It's salty!"
Jiang Xuan trembled. He looked at the small half-crystal stone and was indescribably excited.
It's salt. It's really salt!
Jiang Xuan was so excited that he wanted to jump up. The heavens pitied him. Ever since he transmigrated, he had never tasted real salt. He had almost forgotten what salt tasted like.
"I'll try."
Chi Shao also used her stone knife to pry off a small piece of rock. She licked it and realized that it did not taste good. Other than salty, there were many other flavors. It was not delicious.
"I'll try too."
Stone Loach eagerly got a small rock of his own and licked it. He felt much the same as Chi Shao. It was not delicious.
"Chief, is this really salt?" asked Chi Shao.
This was because in her impression, salt was extremely precious. The Deer Tribe could only obtain a small amount of salt by trading with other tribes.
Salt was usually controlled by the chief of the tribe or the shaman. Only those who were injured or sick could obtain a little salt water. The others relied on drinking beast blood to replenish their salt.
Most of the clansmen had never seen salt in its entirety, and naturally, neither had Chi Shao.
She found it a little difficult to accept that such a large piece of rock on the wall was the extremely precious salt.
Stone Loach was also looking at Jiang Xuan because he knew that his chief would definitely give him an answer.
Jiang Xuan placed the semi-crystal pale red stone in his palm and said to Chi Shao and Stone Loach, "To be precise, this is salt ore. Apart from salt, it also contains a lot of poisonous substances.
If the poisonous substances in the salt ore can't be removed, then people will slowly be poisoned after eating it. In serious cases, they might even die."
As soon as they heard that it was poisonous, Chi Shao and Stone Loach immediately became nervous because they had just licked this salt ore.
Jiang Xuan continued, "Don't worry. It's just a lick. It'll be fine. You'll only be poisoned if you eat it for a long time."
Chi Shao asked in confusion, "Then why are those bison fine after eating them?"
Stone Loach nodded. He had the same question.
"The bison's physique is much stronger than ours, and their ability to detoxify is also stronger than ours. Therefore, they can directly lick it, but we can't directly eat this salt ore."
Chi Shao said helplessly, "We finally found it, but we can't eat it. Wouldn't we have worked for two days for nothing?"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "It's not for nothing.
I have a way of removing the toxic substances from these salt ores and turning them into salt that we can eat."
"Really?" Hope flared in Chi Shao's eyes again. Salt was so important to the tribe, so precious.
"Of course."
"That's great!"
Jiang Xuan said, "First, dig out some salt ores and shatter them. Then use the animal skin bag to bring them back to the tribe."
"Good!"
The three of them immediately used stone knives to dig up the salt ores. They only chose the red semi-crystal salt ores because they had a higher salt content.
Semi-crystal salt ores were easier to break. After breaking them, it was easier to put them into animal skin bags and carry them around.
They each brought an animal skin bag. When the three bags were filled, they set off on the return journey with excitement.
If these salt ores could really be refined into edible salt, then the crisis of the Vine Tribe's lack of salt would be truly resolved!
-- 贈り物
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